Hyundai Oilbank to Build Eco-Friendly LNG-Blue Hydrogen Power Plant

Meeting 70% of Daesan Plant's Electricity Demand Through Self-Generation by 2025 Commercial Operation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] Hyundai Oilbank is planning to invest a total of 400 billion KRW to build an eco-friendly power plant that uses LNG and blue hydrogen as fuel. To this end, Hyundai Oilbank announced on the 22nd that it established the power generation subsidiary Hyundai E&F in June and obtained the collective energy business license.

The collective energy business supplies energy such as electricity and heat to industrial facilities. Hyundai E&F aims for commercial operation in 2025 and will build power generation facilities with a capacity of 230 tons of steam per hour and 290 MW of electricity. The steam and electricity produced will be supplied to Hyundai Oilbank subsidiaries within the Daesan plant, such as Hyundai Chemical and Hyundai Shell Base Oil.

Hyundai Oilbank currently produces some of the steam and electricity required for the operation of the Daesan plant directly. However, with the expansion of advanced facilities and the new commercial operation of Hyundai Chemical HPC (heavy oil-based petrochemical facilities), the steam and electricity consumption at the Daesan plant is expected to continuously increase, leading to the decision to expand the power generation business for smoother utility supply.

The amount of electricity produced by Hyundai E&F will exceed 50% of the electricity demand of Hyundai Oilbank's Daesan plant. Combined with the existing electricity production, Hyundai Oilbank will cover more than 70% of the total electricity for the Daesan plant through self-generation in the future. This is expected to strengthen the stability of utility supply as well as reduce the burden of electricity costs.

In particular, Hyundai E&F plans to build an eco-friendly power plant that can use not only LNG but also up to 30% blue hydrogen produced at the Daesan plant as fuel. Kang Dalho, CEO of Hyundai Oilbank, said, "LNG-blue hydrogen co-firing power generation is one of the various carbon neutrality efforts," adding, "If hydrogen is mixed at 30% in an LNG power plant that can reduce greenhouse gases by up to 56% compared to conventional fossil fuel power generation, it can further reduce greenhouse gases by about 11%."